Bank of England blows £23,000 on gifts and parties for Sir Mervyn

PARTIES and gifts costing more than £23,000 were ­lavished on Sir Mervyn King when he left the Bank of England, it emerged last night.

Sir Mervyn King was lavished with gifts and parties upon his departure from Bank of England

The former governor was showered with a £10,000 painting of himself, a £600 silver napkin ring and a £2,505 sculpture of German writer Johann von Goethe.

And three farewell parties costing over £10,000 were thrown for him.

Before stepping down, Sir Mervyn, 65, said people had “every right to be angry” with banks for the country’s financial crisis and sympathised with people hit by falling living standards.

The gifts and parties were paid for by the Bank which is owned by taxpayers.

Figures disclosed following a Freedom of Information request showed a £4,672 evening reception on June 26 was followed by a £3,450 dinner the next day.

A further dinner was held on June 28 at a cost of £3,800, with flowers and invitations for the three events costing £1,501.

A painting of Mervyn King worth £10,000 was one of the gifts from the Bank

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These extravagant leaving gifts are in stark contrast to the situation faced by millions of people struggling with the cost of living thanks to stubborn levels of inflation overseen by Sir Mervyn.

“Taxpayers and savers continue to pay for Bank of England policy so they will find it particularly egregious they are also paying so much for the governor’s goodbyes.”

A Bank spokesman said the gift of a silver napkin ring was normal for a departing senior director, adding: “All these costs were met by the Bank with the approval of the court of directors.”

Sir Mervyn – who is now a lord – retired with a gold-plated, taxpayer-funded pension worth almost £200,000 a year.